Private 64810 Charles Prince, Machine Gun Corps

GRANDAD CHARLES PRINCE (1884-1917)

INTRODUCTION

CHARLES PRINCE'S GRAVE AT ST. VENANT COMMUNAL CEMETERY

What thoughts would be going through Charlie’s mind as he entered Broughton Town Hall on that fateful wet and windy Sunday in December 1915? Was he filled with trepidation, or the pride of a new warrior? Another question that we will never know the answer to, is why? Why would a family man with a wife and five children, the youngest just two months old, decide to sign up and go to war? Was it a deliberate and calculated decision, or was it spur of the moment? I would think whatever the reason was, he would not have done it alone. It may have been a group of work colleagues who had discussed it and decided to join up on their day off from work. More likely it was an instant decision by a few mates at the pub after a few Sunday lunchtime pints. Conscription can be discounted as it would be six months later before married men were being called upon to enlist, and unlikely for fathers of five children.

Salford had responded admirably to the call when war was declared on 4th August, 1914 and in fact the following day mounted policemen had to be called to control the throngs of men who had gathered outside the Cross Lane Barracks of The Lancashire Fusiliers to allow vehicular traffic to continue to flow. The Barracks was so overwhelmed by the response that the assembled men were told to come back another day to enlist. The time needed to fill in the forms and to conduct a medical inspection meant that it would take a number of days before the initial euphoria would die down. So enthusiastic were the Salfordians that many groups of pals walked to Manchester to enlist into Manchester Battalions. In all, four Salford Pals Battalions were formed within the first year of the war. This amounted to about 4,000 young men, and when added to those who enlisted into the Manchester Battalions was a great credit to Salford, which had a population at the time of approximately 225,000. Manchester raised nine ‘Pals Battalions‘.

As the war ground on it became evident that it would not be ‘all over by Christmas’ and as the reported losses increased, more and more men were required. The atrocious sinking of the Lusitania by the German Navy in Spring 1915 brought about a further wave of volunteers, as did the execution of Nurse Edith Cavell in October. Still more men were needed and so conscription of young single men became law in January 1916, followed by married men in May.

Initially, two in every five volunteers were deemed unsuitable on fitness grounds and many were in essential occupations, but even these criteria were relaxed later. When volunteer numbers fell to around 80,000 per month nationwide, the government were forced to intervene before they introduced the conscription law. A National Registration Act of 1915 created a register that revealed the number of men still available and they were targeted in a number of ways. Advertising skills with posters and public meetings were introduced highlighting the German atrocities as mentioned above. Emphasis on the shame to the men who had not enlisted was very apparent. Public institutions of all kinds were mobilised to help recruit. Many of them like the suffragette movement gave white feathers to men in the street who appeared to be of military age, to shame them into enlisting. This would include visiting pubs at Sunday lunchtime, which was the hallowed time that a working man would unwind from his week’s work, while his wife would prepare a late Sunday lunch.

All this pressure may have had an adverse affect on men who were not on the register and it was probably this pressure that finally made Charlie and some of his mates react and march off to Broughton Town Hall. Sunday lunch on 5th December, 1915 must have been very different to any other that the Prince family had had, a Sunday that would change all their lives. Charlie may also have been influenced by the fact that his younger brother, Arthur, had enlisted on 18th November, 1915 at the age of 24 and Charlie wished to join him.

EARLY LIFE IN SALFORD

Charlie was a forgotten hero, albeit a reluctant one, as so many were who joined up to serve King and Country in the First World War. He may have gone unnoticed but for researching the Prince Family Tree. He was never discussed in family conversations, as far as anyone remembers, so his grandchildren knew nothing of him at all. This therefore is an opportunity to reveal a man that I have grown to admire.

Born in November 1884, the fourth child of ten to Charles and Frances Prince, he was given his father’s name, Charles, but living in Salford he would almost certainly have been called Charlie. The family were probably living at 58 Charlotte Street, Higher Broughton, as records show that the next born, Thomas (1886), was born there.

The terraced houses in a grid system of streets in this area had not long since been built to fit as tightly as possible between already existing roads, such was Waterloo Road, Great Cheetham Street and Marlborough Road. This building programme took place from around 1870 onwards and had little variation in house size or design. This was happening all over the North of England, a massive programme of housing accommodation for people who would work in the new factories created by the Industrial Revolution. Salford, along with towns like Rochdale, Oldham and Bury, became a textile satellite to the hub of the cotton trade, Manchester. Spinning, weaving, dyeing and all other ancillary trades associated with cotton were set up in Salford and the manufacture of clothing was also introduced to the area. At a later date, the Manchester Ship Canal and Manchester Docks were built, Salford being the terminal point bringing more employment to the area.

It was with this background that the Prince family were surrounded at the time of Charlie’s birth, although they had lived in this area since about 1850. Marlborough Road School had opened its gates for the first time on 4th October, 1880, so it is safe to assume that Charlie and his sister Mary were the first of many Princes to be educated there. Garnet Street School opened in 1896.

ST JAMES' CHURCH, BROUGHTON

St James’ Church on Great Cheetham Street, was built between 1877 and 1879. The first Prince recorded in its Registers was Charlie’s Grandfather, Charles (Charles was the name recorded through four generations of Princes), whose second marriage to spinster Jane Jones took place on Saturday, 18 th February, 1882.

Charlie’s few years at school would teach him the basic three R’s and judging by his signature on some of his army enrolment forms, he shone at ‘riting’. The family were now living at 53 Warwick Street, as shown by Thomas’ baptism record of 1886. Because Charlie’s birthday was in November, he probably would have left school at Christmas 1896 and would be under pressure to get employment quickly to help the family budget, as there were five younger children still at school. The Manchester Ship Canal and Manchester Docks had been opened by the Queen two years earlier and must have had a positive effect on the Salford employment situation, so one hopes that Charlie was soon employed.

The next few years were very eventful in Salford. Electric trams were introduced and lines from Higher Broughton to Manchester were opened in October 1901, followed by electric lighting. This new innovation to local public transport gave rise to people having the ability to travel greater distances than had hitherto been possible by ‘Shanks’ Pony’. Railway transport for longer journeys had been possible for many decades, but at greater cost. This meant that the search for employment and entertainment was now possible over a greater area, so places like Belle Vue and many sporting venues could be added to the list of entertainments for everybody.

Charlie’s friends would have been local to him, mainly school pals, but it is safe to assume that his best friend was Fred (Frederick William March), who was three years older than Charlie. Charlie and Fred both married in 1905 and were the ‘Best Man’ at each other’s weddings. Fred, who was a railway porter and living at 15 Fred Street, married Jane Storrer on 28th February and later in the year on 10th September, Charlie married Fred’s younger sister, Nellie. At the time of Charlie and Nell’s marriage, he was living at 44 Dudley Street and Nell at 24 Arthur Street, roughly 75 yards apart.

The Princes’ and Marches’ younger members would have all been good friends and met up in the local pubs, which were the more frequented places for socialising. In 1910, Salford had 853 licences for the sale of alcohol, down from 1,037 in 1900, which with a population of 244,636 works out at one licence for every 287 people.

On 9th December 1905, Nell and Charlie’s first children were born, twins, who were named after the two friends, Charles and Frederick. Thomas (Dad) was born 29th January 1908, Nellie 11th October 1910 and finally for Charlie, William who was born 5th October 1915.

Nell and Charlie would have attended the weddings of Charlie’s sisters, Mary Anna, Ellen, Edith and Elizabeth and brothers, William and Arthur, all of whom were married at St James Church and from 44 Dudley Street. The family had moved to 44 Dudley Street about 1900 and at one point twelve people were living in this terraced house, probably with great difficulty. There is evidence that the Prince’s occupied No. 44 until at least the mid-1930s.

It would be nice to believe that Fred accompanied Charlie to sign up at The Town Hall, but the 1911 Census shows that Fred had a greengrocery business at 66 Dudley Street and was therefore unlikely to leave his business. Fred and Jane had two sons and two daughters and continued living at 66 Dudley Street until 1937, although the business changed to confectionary and bakery.

​MILITARY SERVICE

On 5 th December 1915, Charlie voluntarily enlisted into the Lancashire Fusiliers at Salford. Signing on involved a medical examination, which Charlie obviously passed, and from the Medical History Form (Army Form B178), we get to know a little more about him. He was five feet six inches tall and weighed ten stones (140 pounds) and his chest measurement, when fully expanded, was 39½ inches, 2½ inches greater than when relaxed. His physical development was good and his eyesight very good. He had grey eyes, dark brown hair and a fresh complexion. He had a birthmark on the left side of his chin and a scar on the back of his hand.

Having signed the enlistment form and passed the medical, Charlie was enlisted into the Army Reserve as Private 35088 Charles Prince, Lancashire Fusiliers, probably reporting to the depot in Bury. After five months at home, Charlie was mobilised from the Army Reserve on 8 th June, 1916 and posted the following day to the 21 st (Reserve) Battalion. This Battalion was formed at Conway, North Wales and Ashton-in- Makerfield (near Wigan) and was moved to Prees Heath (near Whitchurch, Shropshire) in November. Before going to Prees Heath, the Battalion was converted to 72 nd and 73 rd Training Reserve Battalions (TRB) in the 17 th Reserve Brigade. Just a couple months later he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (soon to be known as the Suicide Club). Charlie was re-numbered 64810 Private Charles Prince, Machine Gun Corps (MGC). Volunteering for the MGC was unlikely, as life expectancy was only a few months, so soldiers were selected on an arbitrary basis. They were lined up on the Parade Ground and an officer would walk up and down the ranks, pointing to certain men to fall out until they had the requisite number.

Until this latest transfer, Charlie’s training would have been the basic drilling to improve physical fitness, marching discipline and field craft, but now he was required to learn how to assemble and dismantle machine guns and become a member of a machine gun team. To do this, he was probably posted to the MGC’s training facility at Harrowby Camp, Grantham in Lincolnshire.

At Harrowby Camp, machine gun teams would practice using various designs of machine guns, but the main two in use in 1916 were the Vickers and the Lewis guns. The Vickers machine gun was the staple for the MGC, whereas the Lewis gun was used by the infantry. The Vickers gun was a good servant to the British Army and would continue in use for a long time to come. It was heavy and cumbersome, its team of six men having to carry jerry cans of water to replenish the water needed to keep the barrel cool. The water chamber itself added to the weight along with its tripod, so the team had to carry a lot of metalwork, water and magazines of ammunition to where they were needed.

I am sure that Charlie would have been made familiar with all the equipment available and become an integral member of a team. It would be nice to think that he was allowed some leave so that he could spend Christmas 1916 at home with the family, Nell, young Charlie, Fred, Tommy, Nellie and baby Billy.

January 1917 saw lots of activity at Harrowby Camp as machine gun teams prepared for war. Charlie, along with many more soldiers of The Machine Gun Corp, boarded a ship at Folkestone on 10th January and left the shores of England for his first and last time. A few hours later they disembarked at Boulogne and began the journey to Camiers, which being 13 miles (21 km) from the port, one assumes the journey was marched and their destination was reached the following day.

Camiers was the base for The Machine Corps in France and familiarising with life in the trenches of Belgium and France would have been part of the continual training until being assigned to a Company. This for Charlie was on 10 th February, 1917 when he and the Machine Gun team joined No. 6 Company, part of the 2 nd Division.

This 2 nd Division was involved in the Battle of Arras, which took place between 9 th April and 16 th May, 1917. The first phase of the battle included the First Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of Vimy Ridge and the First Battle of Bullecourt. The second phase included the Battle of Lagnicourt, second Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of Arleux, second Battle of Bullecourt and the third Battle of the Scarpe. Charlie would have been involved somewhere in this major battle and survived it.

Unfortunately, Charlie’s luck ran out when on 22 nd July he was wounded by shrapnel, probably from a shell explosion, which entered the joint of his right knee. He was evacuated to 57 Casualty Clearing Station (CCS), which was situated at St Venant.

St Venant is a small town in the department of Pas de Calais, about 15 km north west of Bethune and about 20km as the crow flies, from the Belgian border. 57 CCS was operational at St Venant between March and October, 1917 when it was moved to St Auban in the north west outskirts of Arras. At St Venant it was‘established in one wing of an asylum building, the wards of which seemed to be suitable for the purpose for which they are required. There does not seem to be any prospect of any acute cases being admitted to this CCS, as described on 29 th March, 1917 in the diary of the Senior Nursing Officer. A later diary entry on 16 th July, 1917, six days prior to Charlie being admitted, read ‘the hospital was very quiet at the time of the visit - about 112 patients, included 4 officers - chiefly local sick and self-inflicted wounds. The sister in charge is Miss Loughton, QAIMNSR. The hospital is in a building with a nice garden.’ Miss Loughton was awarded the Military Medal for her gallantry on the night of 19 th August, 1917 when the asylum was hit by five bombs, which killed a number of the patients and injured many more.

Charlie, despite his treatment at the hospital, developed gas gangrene which can be caused by soil contamination of the wound and of which there was no remedial treatment. Penicillin, which became the treatment for gas gangrene, was not invented until 1928 and rapid amputation was the only sure way to prevent it progressing. If the time delay from sustaining a contaminated wound to the arrival at the CCS was particularly long, then there was little hope of recovery. We can only assume that Charlie did not have a rapid transit and therefore succumbed to the spread of gangrene and died on 25 th July, 1917.

ST. VENANT COMMUNAL CEMETERY

Charles Prince, Private 64810, MGC, was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal and the British Medal. Nell received a pension of 31/3d (thirty one shillings and three pence) for herself and five children, effective from 4 thFebruary, 1918. Today’s equivalent is about 16p.​Charlie is buried in the military section of St Venant Communal Cemetery, Grave Ref. IVA 47.

​Nell remarried in 1920 and kept the Prince name by marrying James (‘Pop’), Charlie’s Uncle, or put another way, she married her father-in- law’s stepbrother, who was three years junior to Charlie. They had two sons, James and George, and went on to live long lives in Higher Broughton. Charlie’s younger brother, Arthur, survived the war and was demobilised from the army 1 st May, 1919. Charlie’s youngest son, William, was killed in France shortly after the D-Day Landings (1944) and is buried in Normandy.